Activision Netstorm Strategy Review

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Visitors rate this review
3.00 of 5,
3 votes

Price Paid:  $30.00 from gift

Summary:
If you're like me and generally find combat games tedius, NetStorm could prove to be the exception.

The strategy involved might appeal to puzzle-lovers and Sim-players, with an element of competition to make things more interesting.

This game is one of my favourites. It comes with a large number of addictive single-player scenarios. My only beef is that there aren't more.

Gore: Not excessive. Machines blow up. Creatures get destroyed, but pffft dissolve, without much gore. It gets dark when you capture & sacrifice an opponent priest... you hear yourself call on the elements, as your opponent is tied to an alter and screams in horror as he meets a firey death.

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Summary:
This is such a wonderful game - such a shame it never became a franchise. It's sort of a cross between WarCraft and Tertris. The concept is a little difficult to explain - your base is an island floating in the sky and you build an infrastructure using fuel from "crystal gysers". To connect your island with fuel mines and other islands you have to build bridges by connecting these teris-like pieces. You capture the enemy priest and sacrifice him at an alter in a creepy sort of elemental ceremony like something out of "The Golden Bough". I installed it the other day just to see if it would run on 2K an ended up spending many hours replaying the missions. The gameplay is surprisingly resiliant and still feels modern. Their multiplayer server is still up and populated mostly by european players - there were maybe a dozen when I logged on. I've had so much fun with this game and highly recommend it to anyone.

Overall Rating
 4 of 5

Price Paid:  $1200.00 from Built myself

Summary:
I feel like I have to come in and post some favorable comments about Netstorm. This was the game that got me started into all types of online multiplayer games whether they be muds/text rpgs to fps. I was around near the very beginning of NS back in 97 and with a friend started what was then the 3rd largest guild known as the {SEX} Society of Evil Xecutors guild (old guild pages still viewable at simrin.simrin.net/gaming/ns). There was over 30 of us at our peak and we all loved the game. It was very simple and if you played with good people you could have a lot of fun taunting each other and just going crazy without the fear or nukers or cheaters. Back in these days those types were few and far between so there was a lot of good games back then. I know that people have talked about the limiting factor for growth of young players in not being able to fight and win against people. In about 1998 NS moved towards everyone being equal and just winning on skill. Thus the tourney fort was invented. You could easily download this from someone or somewhere and it made a player automatically rank 1 level 42 which gave you all the items and then you could fight as equals in equipment. The thing that makes me proud still to this day is that the game has not died. NS never had a big following but you can still connect and find almost 40 people on at times. For a small off the cuff game that is pretty good usage. Well I would suggest if people want a little amusement and fun from a classic game to go give Netstorm a try. You can likely still find copies at your local game store or there is ususally a copy for auction on ebay. Have fun and see you in the islands at war.

DrunkPunk{SEX}

Overall Rating
 2 of 5

Visitors rate this review
1.00 of 5,
1 votes

Summary:
NetStorm was just another game that was made when the internet started getting popular. You have a war in the clouds on these floating islands. There are three furies (Wind, Rain and Thunder) which are powers you can use to build your units to attack your enemies. NetStorm heavily relies on its multi player, because its single player is very shallow. The only thing single player is good for is to teach you the art of the game (which I will explain later). In the multi player, you can make up a name for yourself. You are in a large "cloud" area with different zones you can go to. The zones are all the same, but are usefull if you just want to meet up with some freinds or a clan. You can chat to everyone in the zone and organise things. There is no censor, so its usefull if you minimize the screen if your parents come in (for the younger people). A lot of swearing goes on in there. You can format colors and special symbols to make your text look better and identify you as a clan member.

When you've socialised enough, you can join a ring, where plenty of people can join. One on one, Free for all, two vs two.. plenty of different games you can make if you are the ring master. A ring master is the first person to join a ring. Once in, you get an island and a preist with some energy that you can collect. The first time you play, you will only have two units and a generator. The generator you get is either wind, rain or thunder, and it usually means you will choose to get new units that are under that power. When you sacrifice a preist on your altar. You get to choose a weapon you would like to use in future games. You can save up your kills to get better things. Each kill you make will add to your level. Once you have earned all the units and win another fight, you can choose to go to rank 2, which means all of your units are gone, except the first two, but they are more powerful.

Fighting is a pain. You build bridges around to islands to collect enough energy. The units you build just stay there and shoot whatever comes close. Its also important to protect the base from attack. You need to use your units to be able to catch another players preist and bring it back to your own base for sacrificing. A big problem is, that someone with a higher level and rank will beat the crap out of you, and sometimes its impossible to stop it. It is also hard to play against Rank 1, Level 1 players because there are so few, and it can be very difficult to get a foot hold. Instead of getting harder as you progress, it gets easier. This means that the rich, just get richer.

Then there is the problem with nukes and cheaters. People go around with nukes and knock people out of the game. It can be very distressing on a first time player as they've snagged their first preist, only to be nuked. The only way to stop nukers is to get an anti nuke. If you talk to some of the people in the game, I'm sure someone will point you to a place where you can get one. Then there are cheaters which hide their rank, or make their rank higher to make themselves more powerful or invincible.

Visually, this game is standard and lacks in any detail. The background is always the same dull gray cloudy color and looks like some clip art out of Corel Draw. The units are a little bulky and look quite plain. Some of the later ones you get, mainly the water ones, do look quite nice. Lag is also a huge problem. Sometimes it lags so much that you lose the game. Other times it lags for you, but not everyone. Allowing someone to grab your preist while you cant do anything.

The sound effects are quite good. All the items have their unique sound. Cannons fire with loud sounds. Even louder sounds signify something has been blown up. The music is very repetitive, because its nearly always the same. I remember one track of music from the game, and nothing else.

So, all in all, this game can be fun for a short time, until the flaws start driving you mad. Also, you can get yourself to such a high rank, that no one would play you. A good idea, just too many problems to provide any Lasting Appeal.

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Summary:
This game is very inventive and is a new form of real time strategy. It is very addictive and no matter how much you play your character never stops getting better. I personally love the game but there are two major problems I have found with it.
First activision does offer a free internet server to play on but there are rarely more than 30 people on the net at a time. This can get annoying and you end up playing the same people over and over. The other disadvantage is that it is hard to meet on equal terms with another player. Most of the time one player will either have better technology due to more priests sacrifices or they will be at a higher level than you so their weapons will be more powerful.
Other than that this game is an inventive and fast moving strategy game that will leave your head spinning, and if you're good there a lot of different ways to play on one common map.